Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Changes Following Third Molar Surgery in a Jordanian Population: Effect of Demographic and Clinical Factors on the Immediate Postoperative Period

Objective: this study aimed to evaluate oral health-related quality of life (ohrqol) changes following third molar surgery, and investigate demographic and clinical variables’ effect on (ohrqol) in the first postoperative week.methods: 45 subjects had surgical removal of lower third molar/s by one surgeonat jordan university hospital from march 2011 to november 2011, following a standardized protocol. patients’ demographics and clinical data were recorded. (ohrqol) was evaluated before surgery using the oral health impact profile (ohip)-14. on postoperative days (pd) 1, 3, 5 and 7, patients completed the (ohip)-14 & the condition-specific (hrqol) instrument.results: a significant deterioration in ohrqol was seen on (pd)1(p=0.000), and (pd)3 (p=0.000), except for psychological discomfort and disability domains. on (pd)5, no difference was found, however, females had significantly lower ohrqol levels than males on (ohip)-14 (p=0.008) and the domains: physical (p=0.048), psychological (p=0.016) and social disability(p=0.018).conclusions: third molar surgery was associated with deterioration in patients’ ohrqol on the first three postoperative days. females had a slower recovery, with no effect of other factors on patients’ recovery pattern.